The Witch's Daughter

Chapter5(William)

My father and I ate breakfast in silence. The only time he spoke to me was to let me know we were going out to the park after we were done eating. We were headed out the door when a messenger came to give us a letter from Lady Douglas. It stated they would be ready to talk about the wedding by next week.

“Next week? That is far too long to wait. We must start planning immediately. I want the two of you to be wed by the end of the season.”

“Father, we should just let her have some time to process and accept the engagement, otherwise we are going to get so much push back on everything.”

He shoots me a look but does not say anything. We get to the park and father talks with the other gentlemen accompanying their families. I walk on the sidewalk just taking in all the little shopping tents when someone shoulder checks me.

“You should really watch where you are going.” he says. I turn to give him a peace of my mind when I realize who it is.

“Kellan! I did not expect you back for a few more weeks.”

“Well, I got a letter from a friend about the news and figured you might need my help.”

“What on earth would I need your help with?”

“Wooing your betrothed, of course.”

“I do not need help wooing anybody, Kel.”

“I do not believe you, little brother. The last time I saw you try and talk to a young lady you scared her so bad that her family retreated to their country home early.”

“You know very well they had a family emergency, and it had nothing to do with me.”

He just laughs and joins me on my walk around the park. Kellan is technically our father’s first-born son, but he is a bastard. It was before my mother and father were married and once it came to light that father had a son with some women in a bar 2 years before, she made him send money to them once a month. Kel’s mother passed of some illness when he was five and I was two and my mother made father take him in. We told everyone he was a long-lost cousin of mine who was recently orphaned so we took him in. I lean into Kellan so I can whisper to him with no one hearing.

“You must stop calling me brother in public. You know the rules.”

“No one was paying attention to us. It will be fine, Will.” He adds to the end when he sees the look on my face.

“We should probably find father so he knows that you are here.”

“You are probably right, but let's not and it can be a surprise.” He smirks and winks at me. “Oh, isn’t that your fiancé right there? Who is she with?”

I look over and see Leith and Arabella slipping under the willow tree. I try and squint to see them better, but the thick hanging branches make it impossible.

“Yes, that is her and the other lady with her is Arabella, her best friend.”

“I wonder what they could possibly be talking about under there.”

“Well, they obviously wanted privacy, all the ladies in town go under there when they have some kind of gossip they want to talk about.”

“And how do you know that? Do you often gossip under the willow tree as well?”

I roll my eyes at him and go to walk in the opposite direction, but he grabs my arm and makes me walk with him towards the willow tree.

“What are you doing?”

“We are just going to hang around and hopefully run into them when they come out.”

“Absolutely not. We are meeting next week to discuss things and I will not be talking to her until then.”

“Fine, you can go and I will wait around and speak with her by myself.”

“No, you will not. You are going to come with me and speak with father.”

He smirks at me as he continues to walk toward the tree. I follow him to make sure he does not do anything reckless. As we get closer to the tree, I can see them through the branches better. I can see Leith’s copper hair. I can not hear what they are saying, but by their facial expressions and hand movements I can tell it is an intense conversation. Leith turns and I can now make out her profile. Her brows are furrowed as if she is thinking about something intently. She use to look at me with that face all the time when we were little. When Lord Douglas passed, she closed herself off from everybody but her family until Arabella came along and seemed to pull her back out into society. I hate that we are being forced into this, but I also miss her. She was my only friend and now I only have father and Kellan. I hope giving her a week will let her calm down enough to think rationally and make the right decision.

“Wow, she certainly has grown up. Her friend is a looker too.”

I turn towards him to say something when I notice they are starting to leave. I grab his arm and drag him away before they can see us. We get back to the market and I look over my shoulder to see the girls getting into their carriages and leaving.

“You are no fun.” Kellan says.

“I can have fun when it is appropriate.”

Luckily, Father sees us and comes over before he can say anything else to me. He greets Kellan with no emotion as usual and Kellan greets him sarcastically as usual just to try and get under his skin.

“I am glad you care enough about William to come all this way, but I assure you we do not need your help with the wedding, Kellan.”

“Oh, I am sure you and Lady Douglas have the wedding under control, but I am here to help William become more friendly with Leith.”

“He does not need to be friendly with her to marry her. This is a business transaction and I have made sure William is well aware of this.”

“I know it is, but they can at least be friends at best, so they are not completely miserable for the rest of their lives like you and your wife were.” He gives father a smirk and walks away.

“Did you ask him to come?” father asks me.

“Absolutely not, he just showed up here. I do not even know how he heard about the engagement.”

“Well, I suppose we can find something to distract him.”

I nod at him as we walk back to our carriage to meet up with Kellan. The ride back home is silent and so tense you could feel it in the air. When we get back home, Kellan goes to his room. Our rooms are right next to each other and we use to beg mother and father to put in a connecting door, but they never agreed to it, but Kellan secretly learned morse code and then taught it to me and we would knock on the connecting wall to communicate when we were banished to our rooms for hours on end. As we reach our doors, Kellan throws his bag into his room and turns towards me.

“Should we go to my office and have a drink?” I ask him.

“You have your very own office? Fancy, you have grown up as well, I see.”

I shake my head at him as we make our way there. I pour him and I a drink and open up the balcony door. Kel walks out and looks around. The view is not the greatest, as it is on the side of the house so I can not see the town or anything, but I can see the gardens, which was mothers favorite place to be.

“Oooh, I see why you like it here so much. The view is spectacular.” he says with a laugh.

“Yes, the gardens are really blooming this year, mother would have loved it.”

“That is not the view I was talking about little brother.” He nudges me to look up, so I do. I glance around, not sure what he is talking about until I finally see her. Leith is on the balcony of her room. They live just across the street but their walls are so tall I can only see her head and the tops of her shoulders.

“I have never noticed that her balcony was in view of mine. I hardly ever come out here.”

“Oh, I am sure that is true. You are so oblivious to your own thoughts and feelings, Will and I plan to change that.”

I give him an incredulous look and he just shrugs and leans against the railing. I glance back toward where Leith was and realize I feel disappointed that she is no longer there. Maybe I really do need help from Kellan.